KUALA LUMPUR: Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah describes Tan Sri Dr Arshad Ayub as an individual who dared to take big risks for the sake of the Malays, including his move of introducing English as a medium of communication at Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM) at the time.
In a speech, he said this showed Arshad was prepared to ride the waves considering in the late 60s, the call to use Bahasa Melayu as the medium of communication at public universities was strong.
Apart from English, Sultan Nazrin drew attention to Arshad's move in introducing various professional courses inline with the needs of the private sector, including accountancy, banking, insurance, transport, hospitality and media at ITM, which was later upgraded to university status in 1999.
Sultan Nazrin said this during the launch of a book titled "Arshad Ayub - Menanam Pokok Tempat Berteduh", published by Universiti Malaya, here, today.
"His obstinacy produced a community of Malays who conquered professional skills, apart from mastering communication skills, and this enabled the Malays, a majority of them from rural areas and remote villages, to join various fields in the private sector together with the non-Bumiputera community," he said.
The book contains a compilation of 13 essays on Arshad and his struggles. The essays were contributed by 15 writers, made up of UiTM graduates and those who knew Arshah personally.
According to data published in UiTM's website, the university has produced 815,353 graduates and now has 160,957 students undergoing 515 programmes at 35 campuses across the country.